Owner Ellis Short has put his total trust in Di Canio’s dealings and getting rid of Sessegnon, who scored 17 goals in 83 starts, and Mignolet, the club’s top performer last season, is a big risk.

He is a favourite of the Stadium of Light crowd, but Di Canio has concluded he would be better off with the cash, after the player’s long- stated desire to head back to France for family reasons.

Marseille are eyeing Sessegnon as a fall-back option, while Chinese clubs Tianjin Teda and Shanghai Shenhua have made inquiries, with Teda the more interested.

Fringe players like David Vaughan, who is interesting Crystal Palace, are also being marketed and Di Canio’s starting XI will be unrecognisable from last season’s relegation ­strugglers.

Ahmed Elmohamady is likely to make last season’s loan spell at Hull permanent, while striker Ji Dong Won is for sale with German side ­Augsburg negotiating over a £1m deal.

The futures of Connor Wickham and Danny Graham are uncertain, and after all the departures Di Canio will have a thin squad for pre-season.

However the clear-out has been deemed essential to help Short start to stem £27m-a-season losses, including a wage bill that topped £63m last season. Jozy Altidore, the USA ­international, is one of Di Canio’s top targets, after he grabbed 31 goals for AZ Alkmaar last season.

Out they go: Paolo Di Canio is looking to clear out some of his squad (Photo: Scott Heavey)

Di Canio could land 10 new players by August and Inter Milan midfielder Alfred Duncan is on the radar although a £5m bid for the Ghanaian was turned down.

Lazio right back Luis Pedro Cavanda and St Etienne midfielder Joshua Guilavogui are potential youthful recruits whom Sunderland will move for in the next month.

Sunderland have landed Modibo Diakite, Cabral and Valentin Roberge on free transfers. Swedish winger David Moberg Karlsson joined last week.

The Under-21 ranks have been bolstered by the arrivals of Duncan Watmore from Altrincham and Le Havre’s France Under-20 player El-Hadji Ba.

Di Canio says: “There is a lot of hard work to do between now and the first game against Fulham but we are ready for it. There are many steps to take.

“We have to integrate the new players into the team, continue to build and develop our squad and complete our pre-season training.”